nZ HOUSE & GARDEN

Yang House | April 2024

Central Otago captured the hearts of Chinese interior designers Xin and Ming Yang and they've created a beautiful home with an East-meets-West vibe.

Xin and Ming Yang may have travelled the world but it’s New Zealand that has captured their hearts and souls. More specifically, it’s the trees, birds, lakes and mountains of Queenstown Lakes District that they love. Nature is the thing they crave the most, and it influences not only the way they live but also their work and their home.

The couple have worked as interior designers in their homeland of China for all of their careers. To enrich both their personal and professional lives they have travelled extensively, often staying in one country for more than a month, exploring the environment and understanding the culture. It has influenced their view of life, and also how they approach design. And nothing exemplifies that more than their own home in Arrowtown, near Queenstown. 

The Yangs have lived in this home since emigrating to New Zealand five years ago. It took many months to find, but finally this unassuming house, originally designed by Assembly Architects with a walled garden and East-meets-West vibe, fulfilled their needs. It was the mature trees in the enclosed courtyard that sealed the deal, as well as the view through the living areas’ floor-to-ceiling sliding doors past the trees and the walled garden to the mountains beyond.

The structure of the house was perfect, with cross-beamed ceilings, cork tile floors and a black streamlined kitchen. The couple have made no structural changes but they have filled the house to the brim with intriguing furniture and objects.

Large pieces abound – a long and lovely custom-made sofa, a tall screen, an apple blossom branch, oversized planters and an imposingly tall cabinet. In a different house, they might feel too big, too much, yet here they are so carefully placed that the overall effect is restful.

It boasts numerous sustainable features, including mature trees in the garden that provide natural shade and cooling in the summer, and large floor-to-ceiling windows that bring in ample sunlight to warm the interior during winter.

Tall lamps are used to draw the eye upwards, a mirror is hung so as to reflect a view of the trees and garden and “to bring positive energy”, and potted plants are good Fengshui.

Says Ming: “We have spent decades learning how to design this way, about how to bring nature in. We wanted to make a space that not only looks beautiful but feels beautiful, too. We started with what we have around us – the trees and garden, the birds, the sound of the nearby stream in the evenings.”

The fulsome nature of the interior doesn’t mean it looks cluttered. Says Ming: “We like to keep things in balance so people can sit comfortably within their own spaces. Keep everything so that there’s good flow.”

He’s also a fan of change; there’s no setting a piece of furniture in a certain place and then leaving it there forever. His advice? “Don’t try to fix things into one space. Always look to change and refresh, to make your mood happier, and to change for the next season.”

In a region that has four distinct seasons, the couple rearrange their furniture to suit. “Just as in nature, where elements change and the seasons come and go, so should your home,” says Ming.

In autumn and winter, the couple set the dining table in front of the kitchen, backed by a tall elm screen to divide the living space into cosier zones. A large custom-made open-backed sofa is taken into the dining room, fitting perfectly by the window, and is a great spot to laze in the winter sun.

The house is in an L shape around the enclosed garden, with the living areas and main bedroom opening onto a courtyard, the foothills of the Crown Range tower behind the property.

A mix of tile styles adds interest to the main bathroom, and the Douglas fir ceiling beams provide rustic charm.

The couple shipped furniture and other items they already owned from China after they bought the house – a mix of pieces purchased on their travels and inherited heirlooms. There’s a Buddha from India and an elm screen found in a dusty antique store in China. They have since added local items to their collection, preferring those that are New Zealand-made.

They are strong advocates for up-cycling and using secondhand and inherited objects. Such pieces “all have their own stories and memories,” says Ming. Creating an interior “is like making a good meal, with lots of flavours and layers of taste.”

The couple not only design interiors but are photographers and artists. In the hallway, a gallery of photos taken in Sri Lanka reveals a passion for wildlife. There’s a nearly finished painting propped against the wall of the room the couple uses as a study.

They are gardening for the first time: “It’s a challenge, but fun. We’re not very good at it,” says Xin. They have planted lavender along the roadside wall for its colour and fragrance, and have a series of small vegetable beds thriving at the side of the house. The trees in the courtyard that first made their hearts sing are now hung with wind chimes and designer birdhouses. They’ve also brought a touch of natural beauty to the community with a gorgeous 30m-long lavender hedge in front of the house that delights all who pass by with its vibrant purple blooms.

- Sharon Newey